Modeling Interface Response in Cellular Adhesion

Constitutive properties of living cells are able to withstand physiological environment as well as mechanical stimuli occurring within and outside the body. In this context, a quantitative study in single cell mechanics needs to be conducted. Particularly, we will examine fluid flow and Neo-Hookean deformation related to the rolling effect. A mechanical model to describe the cellular adhesion with detachment is here proposed. We develop a Finite Element analysis, simulating blood cells attached on vessel wall. Restricting the interest on the contact surface and elaborating again the computational results, we develop an equivalent spring model. The simulation notices deformation inhomogeneities (i.e. areas with different concentrations having different deformation values). This important observation should be connected with a specific form of the stored energy deformation. In this case, it loses the standard convexity to show a non-monotone deformation law. Consequently, we have more minimum and the variational problem seems more difficult.